Human-wildlife conflict solutions

Reforestation project

There’s a great little project going on in La Bundo Bundo village, in conjunction with the forestry department who manage the two forest reserves. It’s a reforestation project. Several of the local guys, my guides, are involved. They collect seedlings of two species of tree which are common to the forest but have been targetted for logging in the past – Bayam and Mangga Hutan (local names).

When they’re out in the forest they collect young seedlings from places they won’t survive – like the edges of trails or roads. They then take these back to the village.

Back in the village they’ve made a little propagating shelter and they plant up the seedlings there. They cut the leaves back to stimulate growth and nurture them for a few months there, keeping them watered and shaded.

After a few months the seedlings are transplanted back into the forest in areas which have been logged. They have a target of 5000 seedlings that they hope to plant. It’s a small but vitally important little project and it’s brilliant to see the local guys so involved and excited about it. 🙂